GRAND RAPIDS – Grand Rapids Christian football coach Don Fellows couldn’t say whether or not senior wide receiver Drake Harris will be available for the state playoffs.

Harris, who was so instrumental in last year’s state championship run, did not play in any of the Eagles’ nine regular-season games due to a hamstring injury.

However, Fellows did have plenty to say about the rumors that have followed Harris on why he hasn't played this fall.

“There are a lot of rumors, and I can tell you that they are absolutely not true,” Fellows said. “What we have is a superstar kid who has had a horrible injury, and he is doing his best to come back from it.

“That’s all there is to it. There is one rumor that he has gotten in trouble with the law. That is so false. That is not true. We were at an away game and one of the coaches told Drake, ‘I wouldn’t play either if I were you.' The rumor mill has taken on a life of its own. At some point, people have to understand that this is an 18 year old kid, and I can tell you, it has put a lot of stress on him.”

The Eagles will host Forest Hills Northern Saturday at noon in the opening round of the state playoffs, and both teams enter the game with 7-2 records.The game has been voted the MLive Grand Rapids Game of the Week.

Fellows said doctors will continue to evaluate Harris on a week-by-week basis as long as the Eagles are alive in the postseason. Harris, a two-time first-team all-state player who verbally committed to the University of Michigan this past April, first injured his right hamstring in the summer. The original prognosis was that he was to miss four-to-six weeks, but he reinjured himself in practice just over a month later.

“He tweaked it in July,” Fellows said. “He came back for our scrimmage (on Aug. 23), and he tweaked it again. We thought he was almost completely healed, but then he pulled it again (in practice) before our (Sept. 27 East Grand Rapids) game. He has tweaked it three different times.

“These are really difficult injuries to overcome. Look what happened to Michael Vick. He has an injured hamstring, and he tried to come back last week and got hurt again. You have guys in the NFL who have trouble coming back from these injuries, and this is their job.”

Harris set a state record a year ago with 2,015 yards in receptions. He was at his best in Christian’s 40-37 overtime win against Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in the Division 3 state finals. Harris had 243 yards in receptions, which also set a state record for a championship game.

“No one more is more disappointed than Drake that he can’t be on field,” Fellows said. “He has been at every game, every practice and every meeting. He would give anything to be on the field with his teammates. It’s an unfortunate situation that he can’t control.”